Little Green Men Bearing Christmas Gifts

Little Green Men Bearing Christmas Gifts

I nearly doubled over in laughter when I saw these little green caricatures last week. Lit up in Salento town squar, they looked like an Asian version of Kewpie dolls to me. But given they were lined up in front of the local Policía Station, it was pretty obvious who they were meant to be.

Below is a real life version of one of the local policemen. You can’t miss them with their fluorescent lime-green motorcycles and helmets. What do you think? Is there a resemblance?

So what does that have to do with gifts?

Well, today I was walking through town and I noticed a large gathering of parents and kids in front of the police station. So I strolled over to see what was going on. I was happily surprised to see one of the policemen handing out gifts to all the excited kids. It was quite a festive scene. And from the looks on the faces of the parents as well as the police, a great time was had by all.

Later I discovered that in Salento it is traditional for the police to hand out small gifts to the local kids on Christmas Eve. I can’t tell you if it’s this is done everywhere in Colombia. But I was assured by a local that in Salento the police do it every year. How sweet!

Giant Soda Bottle ‘Statues’

Another quite unusual sighting at the Salento Police Station was the collection of soda-bottle statues. Here’s a photo of a large snowman made from bottles, and wearing a bottle-cap scarf. Well, at least he’s lightweight and won’t melt. Plus he’ll keep well in storage in the off season.

Be sure to check out the photo gallery for a bigger-than-life sized Joseph, Mary and Jesus… also made out of soda bottles!